‘Hillsong’ Casts a Secular Lens on an Evangelical Band

Michael John Warren, the director of MTV documentaries about Drake and Nicki Minaj, perked up a few years ago when he heard about a big music film that was kicking around Hollywood.

“‘They’ve sold tens of millions of albums,’” he recently recalled a friend saying at the time, “‘and they play sold-out arenas multiple nights in a row.’” Mr. Warren, best known for his Jay Z concert film “Fade to Black,” immediately imagined Coldplay or U2. “Awesome,” he thought.

But in fact, like many nonreligious Americans, he had never even heard of the group in question: Hillsong United, the primary musical engine for Hillsong, the stylish, internationally expanding Australian Pentecostal megachurch that counts Justin Bieber and Kevin Durant among its flock.

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Hillsong United performing at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn in August.CreditRichard Termine for The New York Times

“Why would I ever make a Christian rock film?” the director, who was raised Catholic but is now closer to agnostic, said. “You could have told me it was about ISIS or Satanism and I would’ve said, ‘Sounds edgy and cool — let’s go!’ But you say ‘Jesus’ and I’m like, ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa, no thank you.’”

Yet it took only one Hillsong service for Mr. Warren. 43, to overcome his knee-jerk prejudice, if not quite convert. Moved by the youth, diversity and emotion of the congregation — plus the disarming pop songwriting — the director signed on for what would become “Hillsong — Let Hope Rise,” a slick, stirring concert film out Friday that details the sound and mission of the most impactful group in evangelicalism.

Hillsong United serves as the public-facing flagship of a three-pronged music empire, which also includes a more church-centric division (Hillsong Worship) and a youth-focused arm that develops talent (Young & Free). Together they have sold some 20 million albums, dominating contemporary Christian music; the recent smash “Oceans (Where Feet May Fail),” a tear-jerking nine-minute ballad à la Coldplay’s “Fix You,” has spent more than two years in the top five of Billboard’s Hot Christian Songs chart after more than a year at No. 1.

With Mr. Warren’s secular lens lending outsider credibility, “Let Hope Rise” attempts a delicate balance — glorifying the band onstage and off to please its faithful (potentially millions of ticket-buyers) while not coming off so uncritical as to alienate curious nonbelievers.

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Members of the audience at a Hillsong United concert at the Barclays Center in August.CreditRichard Termine for The New York Times

“Have I had moments where I thought, ‘Did I just make a Jesus propaganda film?’” Mr. Warren said. “Yes.” However, “I believe that these people are real in what they do,” he added. “It’s not a hard-hitting journalistic piece, but there are questions in there.”

Agreeing to star in the film also presented a paradox for Hillsong, whose critics say the church favors spectacle over gospel and call its leaders celebrity-obsessed and self-promoting. By putting Hillsong United in Hollywood lights, its message of humility and sacrifice could reach a larger audience — the band’s purpose — but it also opened up the organization to more cynical judgment.

Fortunately, the music — ornate mainstream arena rock but with God-only lyrics that are vetted for adherence to theology — also happens to be “very good,” said Tom Wagner, an ethnomusicologist at work on a book about Hillsong. “They have something that’s extremely effective there and they’ve understood that, so they’re leveraging it to the best of their ability.” (At Hillsong concerts and services, song lyrics are projected on screens to encourage rapturous singalongs, a tactic mirrored, karaoke-style, in the film.)

Joel Houston, 36, Hillsong’s creative director, lead New York pastor and United band leader, described embracing the rock-star exposure as “trying to draw attention to yourself for the sole premise of drawing attention away from yourself” — to God. “But even the concept of Christian celebrity rages against so much of what we’re trying to achieve.”

Mr. Wagner acknowledged that Hillsong risked being criticized for participating, but said the documentary “fits right into the church’s M.O.,” which includes the evangelist knack for “being right at the forefront of using every kind of media possible to bring God to the secular popular consciousness.”

Founded in 1983 by Mr. Houston’s mother and father, Bobbie and Brian Houston, the church now counts locations in 15 countries on six continents, including growing hipster-ish congregations in New York and Los Angeles, where services are often held in rock clubs. (Tattoos, designer clothes and sleek haircuts are common among pastors and attendees.)

Having long crowd-sourced the writing of its original songs to members — the modern worship classic “Shout to the Lord” by Darlene Zschech was a breakout hit for Hillsong in the mid-90s — the church puts music at the center of everything with local praise bands playing primarily from a Hillsong catalog of more than 40 live and studio albums.

“They see this music and the musicians as anointed, infused with the Holy Spirit,” Mr. Wagner said of Hillsong devotees. Even outside of the Hillsong orbit, many evangelical churches rely on its songs, he said. “It’s the perfect business model.”

That built-in audience was part of what inspired Jonathan Bock and Matthew Weaver, the producers of “Let Hope Rise,” to approach Hillsong United after experiencing one of its concerts. The loyal fan base is “why the film exists,” Mr. Warren said.

But Mr. Houston, who previously played in secular bands and recalled dubbing Nirvana and Guns N’ Roses over his parents’ Christian cassettes as a child, also saw the film as a chance to “break through a few stereotypes” about organized religion.

In addition to immersive performances, the documentary shows the always-on-message band members agonizing over their craft and doing missionary work. They also address meta-questions about playing up their goodness for the camera, though gently raised inquiries about the group’s finances are left unresolved. (“Obviously the money goes somewhere — it goes into the church,” Mr. Houston said; United members receive “fair and modest” salaries, in addition to any applicable songwriting royalties.)

Mr. Houston said he refused the producers’ requests during filming to stage shots or re-enact certain moments in order to avoid the inauthentic trappings of reality television; in conversation, he also attempted to separate Hillsong from the film’s commercial prospects. “They’re trying to make money,” he said of the producers, “and we’re trying to tell a story.”

Rather than speaking only to the converted, Mr. Houston added that he hoped the film would reach people like Mr. Warren, a Brooklyn-dwelling music lover and religious skeptic. Mr. Warren, too, said he was most eager for reactions from secular critics and nonreligious friends, some of whom were “weirded out” by the project, which has received early raves in the Christian press.

“I read them and I’m like, ‘This almost sounds ridiculous,’” he said, quoting one review that called the film life-changing. “That’s a little much.”

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page C1 of the New York edition with the headline: A Pop-Music Documentarian Casts a Secular Lens on an Evangelical Band. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe